An educational blog dedicated to open the eyes of my students to current events and their significance to the study of history and government.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

American Government 2/17

In Class - Short discussion recapping our class discussion from this past Friday regarding the economic stimulus plan. For the next few weeks, we will take a look at the Civil Rights Movement in regards to governmental legislation that was passed and the history behind the dramatic changes in US History. Watch documentary regarding Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the documentary, write down the names of people, places, events, or dates. You will use this information for a project that will be handed out on Thursday of this week. As a good resource, start reading Chapter 24, Sections 2 and 3. This will help in some of our class discussions.

Homework - None

QUESTION OF THE WEEK - Since we are reshifting our focus back to the ideas of Civil Rights in American History, why do you think it took so long for African Americans to finally gain their rights (voting rights, equality) even though certain "unalienable rights" are guarunteed in the Constitution of the United States?

36 comments:

mr. palo:]in my opinion, the reason the civil rights movement took so much time to succesed was becuase of the amount of hate involved.( like Dr.King said in the video a war on hate..) People really beileved in the inferiority and superiority that came with color and race. Many people were raised with values that included the belief that people werent equal.As the saying ges you cant teach an old dog new tricks, leaving many white citizens unable to accept the change that came with the movement becuase tehy were raised in a segregated world. However, becuase the constitution does state that everyone has the right to equality, the movement was succesful even if it was a long hard struggle.

I believe the reason why it took so long for African Americans to gain civil rights is because the racists believed that the African Americans had no rights. The white residents of the south did not want to live with colored people. Also the President probably didn't want to upset the citizens that were going to vote for him, if he did do something about giving rights to colored people then he would lose countless votes from white citizens that were going to vote for him. However, the civil rights movement became such a big issue, President Kennedy had to intervene.

The reason that it took so long for African Americans to gain equal rights is because of our mentality. Everyone believes or at least did, since the beginning of mankind that other races are inferior to others. For example this is what allowed the Japanese to attack us like they did during WW2, same can be said about the Nazi's. If people think of other races as "sub-human" then it is not really all that hard to act out against them such as preventing rights and resorting to violence. This mindset is what I believe is the cause to African Americans not recieving thier rights for so long.

To me the reason that the Civil Rights took so long to take affect, was because there wasnt anybody to stand for African Americans. When MLK came around them thats when people knew that they had to do something in order to change how people treated them.

Well why I think the civil rights took so long to establish is because of the drive for power. The people that were in power did not want to give it up. They saw the blacks as a threat to how they lived. W.A.S.P.S's(White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants) thought if the blacks were able to vote, for example, the power would shift. They were to power hungry and racist to see the evil in their ways.

aj1258789certainly the major reason of why african american had to fight to get finally their right even after the civil right act was because american citizens were not ready for iquality.the promese of equality was injected only on whites they wouldn't ever accept blacks as part of their community. racism closed almost everyone's eyes.

i think the reason why the civil rights movement took so long to pass is because people dont responde good to change.they most used religion as there reason. which is kind of dumb because supposedly we are all the children of god and we are all equal.Racism was the biggest problem.they didnt believe african americans deserved the right to anything.maybe people were such use to being superior to african americans.discrimanation is something that we're always going go deal with but day by day we are fighting it!!!

Hi Mr. Palo, the reason as to why i think that the civil rights movement took so much time to take effect was because before Rosa Parks began the movement and MLK made it that much bigger there was no one to speak up for the african americans. Reffering back to last week in the notes we took about the civil rights movement, it was mentioned that people in the Gov't didnt necassrily wan to side with either the African Americans or Whites because going either way would be bring problems so they kind of just looked the other shoulder as if though they dont know anything about it. When Rosa Parks decided not to give up her seat, that was an event that brought this movement to a start but needed an educated or "colleged" person ,as they said in the movie, to get it going. So once MLK came in the picture and was able to inspire ppl to find that courage in them, to finally have a voice, that's when the government took some notice. Over a period of years when they saw that the african americans had a very strong faith in getting rights and faith in MLK they began to put more and more attention so thats why i think that the civil rights movement took so long.

well i think it took long for African Americans to finally gain their rights because it was very hard on the white people to accept this change. They had always segregated the black people, so they couldnt accept them as being equal. Also it took a while because no one stood up for it in the way MLK did, he knew it would take time so he did it peacefully and in an educated way. Time and patience would be the key to gaining that freedom. Also, the whites knew the constitution talked about equality, so it was bound to happen because if it didnt they would be going against it.

I think the civil rights movement took so long because it was hard for blacks to gain an education and whites were always pulling them down. MLK went to college and knew how the government worked. He learned how important nonviolence protest would work in their favor by learning what Gandhi had done in India. Also he used the media to convey his message to the black people and gain support for his cause.

okay coach i think that the reason the civil rights movement took so long is because there was alot of racsist people or citizen and even some government officials making a big deal about the color of the peoples skins. another reason is that the people of the south were "used' to having been the stronger race. dr. king had alot to help with the struggle of the movement cause he had all his speeches and marches i think the march helped out alot because the march to montgomery. im not sure what else there is to say but that what dr king did with everything helped out to where black people are today in america. FREE of segregation and racsism. well palo il see you tomorraaa later dude i mean coach ahahahahhaha

Well mr. palo i think the civil rights movement to so long because white americans believed that african americans were inferior to them, maybe because of their color, but they wanted to deny african americans their voting & equality rights. But then MLK started speaking up for the people and peacefully protesting for afican americans to have the same rights as white americans. Which began uplifting the people for their rights and making the civil rights movement change the course of history.

i think it took so long for the african americans to gain the right to vote because of the fact that all odds were against them, they were seen as lessser people,and because some people in government were against them and their right to vote

The reason that african americans took so long to gain their rights were because obviously of discrimmination and still at that time i don't think that "whites" saw african americans as people. i think this goes back to darwinism in which the "whites" are the fittest. it took time for others to adjust their 'lense' and see the big picture in which they are not the only race and there are no such thing as being one color.

My thought on the reason why It took so long for the African Americans to get Rights is that there is a small amount of blacks who want to stand up against the Whites until MLK Jr. went up and help out the people. Also, I think that the whites where selfish and racist because of all the discrimination. I Can't think of something else...

I believe the reason why it took so long for African Americans to finally gain their rights because it took time for what MLK stood up for to set in and take place. It seems like a big change and for it to happen all at once would be magnificent. Another reason could be that it was all white people in charge and in the government, so what they said had to go. If they did not agree with it, then why would they let it pass?

I believe that people during that time were still not over the transition of blacks still among them. I mean the children of those previous generations still believed it was ok to treat those of color unfairly. Even though we see those people as evil and ignorant it's because they were raised to believe that was ok in society. That's the reason why I believe it took so long to receive there rights.

hey palo its fernando...soo i.m.o. i think that the reason it took soo long for them was cause people were still being racist...although they passed the law to not segregate people they still did it.people really believed that black people didnt belong there.most other people were moving on but then u have the kkk and the many other racist white citizens out there.

African Americans didnt have their rights because they didnt have any one to speak out for them... When MLK stepped up and spoke out.. there was riots, marches and infair deaths. It took so long because Americans didnt beieve African Americans were "people" they saw them as property.

i think that this was no tin the constitution and it mainly had to do with them being prejiudice against african americans. it is so good that they finally got their rights and the right to vote but there is still some racicsm in this world i probably didnt get or understand anything of the question but i have a hinch that it had someething to do with abraham lincoln too. that is all i got to say....

Why i think that the civil rights movement took so long to succed is because people were used to having african american to be working for them. Another reasson why i think it took a while to take affect was beacuse africans were used to having jobs working for people and they were afraid that if they left their jobs they wouldnt be able to get another job so they decided to stay as slaves. Another resson why it took so long to take an effect on africans was because back then africans wernt able to vote and the whites were the only ones that were able to vote and they always wantd to have slaves.

Well... I think it took so long for african americans too gain their freedom becuase alot of white people really hated afican americans and do you think that out of the blue white people were going too let african americans gain thier right or let them make decisions for government or for the future of the people...-Adrian R.

What i think is that since all the people from back then were so used to having slaves that it was they felt that they shouldn't have rights. If their being slaves why let them be able to do what we do such as vote or be treated equal. So on that I think it took so long because so many people wanted things to stay the same.

i think it took long for african americans to gain the right to vote because of the fact that most people still looked at them as slaves and they didn't like the fact that they where a different race they look down at them and some people still do

i think it took long for african americans to gain the right to vot because of the fact that most people still looked at them as slaves and they didn't like the fact that they where a different race they look down at them and some people still do

i think it took long for african americans to gain the right to vote because of the fact that most people still looked at them as slaves and they didn't like the fact that they where a different race they look down at them and some people still do

I think it took so long because they either didn't know that they were missing anything, or simply had grown to accept their position as a fact of life. If you're told something enough times, you'll start to believe it.

I think that it took so long for African Americans to get there unslienable rights because people can be so closed minded. Especially when you have the KKK running around killing African Americans and Whites who were helping the movement which i am sure made a lot of people scared to accept it. African Americans were treated like property for so long that most people were not willing to change that. There was just so much violence and hatred involved with the civil rights movement. I am glad that everyone is equal in our society now but there will always be those stuborn people who will not except anyone who is different from them. Its been a long fight to get were we are now!

it took so long for them for this to happen for various reasons. one them being that racism was still a big part in society. african americans were very much viewed by the whites as inferior to them, and didnt deserve the same as them. especially in the south, because many grew up with the old ideas of how blacks were their slaves and thats just how they kept thinking. another reason why was because there wasnt someone who really stood up to say that blacks werent being treated afairly as the constitution mentioned. then came MLK and he had such power in him to express what was going on and that infact, they way they were being treated was defenitely NOT fair.

I think it took a long time for african americans for them to recieve voting rights or to be equal because the society was not willing to accept them as americans just because they were racist. They were not born like that but their parents made them believe in that and they were so use to it that they did not wanted change in there society.

The people back then believed that whites were superior and blacks weren't. Sometimes people can't handle when things change so if blacks got the same rights as whites that'd mean everyone is equal and some people just can't handle change. Until now!!! =]

Hey Palo, i wasnt able to go online the whole week, but better late than never.

In my opinion, i believe that the civil rights movement, gave a powerful statement, that afican americans have the right and should be able to vote, like the rest of us. There was alot of racism, violence, and corruption amongst the people, and they didn't want to change their perspective on society, and Discrimination in the U.S.

i think it took so long for African Americans to gain their rights because they needed someone to speak out about what was going on, because so many people were afraid to because of all the violence targeted at the minorities.

About Me

I currently reside in Anaheim and have been teaching at La Sierra High School since 2005. I currently teach US History, American Government and World History. I am the head baseball coach at La Sierra, and I use the field as my second classroom.